AP Photo
For the first time since 1998, a Michigan-Michigan State basketball game will matter.
Well, maybe that's a little dramatic, but tonight's 7 o'clock tip at Crisler Center adds an element unseen in those 13 years -- each team is ranked.
Although each lost Saturday (U-M at Iowa and MSU at Northwestern), the Spartans fell only to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll (from sixth), whereas the Wolverines dropped to No. 20 (from 13th).
"It makes it a bigger rivalry when both teams are doing well," MSU coach Tom Izzo said at Monday's Big Ten teleconference. "Anytime you've got a rivalry with two ranked teams, that just stokes the fire even more. We're not Duke-North Carolina yet, but that's what everybody hopes it will be. When both teams are ranked year after year and playing each other, that's what it turns into."
The Trojans lost offensive tackle Matt Kalil and defensive end Nick Perry, but the biggest news of the offseason came when quarterback Matt Barkley said this: "I am staying because I want to finish what I started." Barkley's... more »
Email
Print
Share